


Managing your Incompetence.

by acheaptrickandacheesyoneline



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Background Relationship, Gen, Tony and Maria are friends, Who give one another crap all the time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:19:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4440923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline/pseuds/acheaptrickandacheesyoneline
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quick drabble/ficlet based off of a quote from The Dresden Files which a friend send me, with the caption of "It's Tony and Hill!"</p>
<p>Harry: Wait. You work for me?<br/>Cat Sith: I prefer to think of it as managing your incompetence</p>
            </blockquote>





	Managing your Incompetence.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thiyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thiyr/gifts).



For the first time in a long while, Tony walks into the offices of Stark Industries. Or Resilient. Or whatever they were called now. Point was, his name was on the letterhead. Not only had been a long time since he had last visited, but there was also the fact that he was actually walking into the building rather than flying to the roof and then just wandering into Pepper’s office through the doors he had installed by the landing pad. 

Of course, since Cap had outed Hydra a month ago, people were a bit more hesitant when rocket-propelled projectiles came flying at buildings. Understandable, he supposed. Not that anything was really in more danger than what it had been before it turned out that, hey, surprise! Hydra didn’t die at the end of the war! 

So instead he used it as an excuse to take out one of the cars and go for a drive. Which ended with him walking into the lobby of the Stark Whatever building, looking like he owned the place. And, if he was honest, the real reason he had decided to take a drive was because Pepper was getting back from DC and the cleanup of Stark-tech Helicarriers and assuring the senate that no, Tony was not a part of Hydra, and would -finally- be coming home today. Tony Stark was not a patient man, however. He planned to see Pepper the moment she stepped in. And if he was lucky, he might be able to convince her to come back with him early.

His less than PG thoughts stop in their tracks as he gets off the elevator at the top floor and sees Maria Hill sitting at a desk. A reception desk. She’s sitting there with the same authority she had on the Helicarrier as Fury’s second, directing a bombardment of phone calls, emails, interns and employees with the skill of...Of someone herding cats and succeeding. So, with her usual aplomb. 

Tony is about to say something when Hill catches his eye, holds up a finger, and then directs her attention back to the phone call she is currently on. Shit. Hill was being an actual receptionist. Which is more than Natasha did when she was an aide and was Natalie Rushman--and God, how had he missed that at the time? Oh, right, he had been dying.

Maria ends her side of the call, takes off her headset and gives Tony a completely insincere and fake smile that even paparazzi would have an issue seeing past. “Good morning, Mr. Stark.”

“Wait. You work for me?” Apparently his mind still hasn’t completed its reboot. Or it’s stuck in an infinite loop. He’s not sure which.

"I prefer to think of it as managing your incompetence." She gives him another fake smile as the phone starts ringing again. “Pepper is one floor down. Board room meeting. You know, where the real work gets done.” Hill pops her headset back on, presses a button on the side and goes straight back to her reception-ing. “Good Morning, Ms Potts’ office.”

Tony keeps staring for a moment before backing slowly into the elevator behind him. From now on, he was keeping to his “stay out of the office as much as possible” ideal.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to see the original quote as it was sent to me, it can be found here: http://unseelieaccords.tumblr.com/post/124748574103/paleogiovi-harry-wait-you-work-for-me-cat
> 
> You can find me on tumblr with the same username as my name here.


End file.
